


Somebody's Baby

by TriplePirouette



Series: Nobody's Baby [3]
Category: Captain America (Movies)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, F/M, mostly - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-26
Updated: 2020-12-26
Packaged: 2021-03-10 22:46:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,899
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28341120
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TriplePirouette/pseuds/TriplePirouette
Summary: Seven years after the epilogue in Nobody’s Baby, they have to have the conversation they’ve been dreading.
Relationships: Peggy Carter/Steve Rogers
Series: Nobody's Baby [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1985159
Comments: 25
Kudos: 69





	Somebody's Baby

**Author's Note:**

> I needed to write this before I ever finished Nobody’s baby, as I saw the one scene in my head and I needed to get it out. Six hours later I’ve created a fictional family that I freaking ADORE. Holy hell, if I don’t love this family. I did not intend this. It just kinda happened. If you need a visual for your brain, this takes place in 1961, so Peggy’s got a bit of that Mary Tyler Moore aesthetic with pedal pushers and button downs at home, and Steve’s still stuck in the 50’s with jeans and t-shirts and leather jackets.
> 
> I am absolutely sure I will revisit this family, and this universe, again. But for now, I think I need to take a break and write some other things. I hope you all enjoy this very much.

It was three months after her fourteenth birthday when Amanda’s scream woke the whole house on a Saturday just shy of five am.

Steve and Peggy scrambled out of bed, just in time to hear their young son laugh at their daughter’s continued cries of anguish. “You’re in so much trouble,” he muttered as they barged out of their bedroom. Across the hall, Amanda was standing in her nightdress, hand still on the door knob, and her door very much not on its hinges, but rather hovering in the air from the knob where she held it. “I’m going back to sleep,” her brother announced, disappearing into the darkness and shutting his own door.

Steve didn’t even think, he just stepped forward and took the door from her hand, placing it gently against the wall next to her room. Peggy was right behind him to take Mandy in her arms. “What happened?”

“I couldn’t sleep and I just wanted some juice.” Mandy whispered, holding tight to Peggy. “I didn’t want to wake anyone so I tried to keep it from squeaking and then…”

Peggy looked at Steve over their daughter’s head, _“She’s taller,”_ she mouthed to him before she pursed her lips in a tight line. Steve could see her nightgown looked shorter, and Peggy could barely see over her head now. Last night Peggy had been able to kiss the top of her head without difficulty, now she’d need to get on tip toes at the very least.

“Let’s go downstairs,” Steve moved forward, wrapping his arm around them and gently leading towards the stairs, peaking back at the gaping hole and splintered wood where the hinges had once been. “Let James sleep.”

The morose group moved to the kitchen, Mandy still shaking as she sat at the table, moving as gently as she could, afraid she might break that, too. Steve set about starting coffee for Peggy and himself, and Peggy disappeared quickly, returning in her robe and with a small box that she’d kept in the back of their closet.

Mandy didn’t speak again until all three of them were sitting at the table. “Am I in trouble?”

‘No,” Steve replied emphatically, shaking his head and looking at his cup of coffee.

“Then why does it look like I’m in trouble?” Mandy looked between their dour faces, biting her lip. “I promise, I wasn’t trying to break it.”

Peggy reached out, taking her hands gently. “We know. And that’s why we need to talk to you, very seriously.” Mandy’s tremors didn’t subside and she gulped audibly. Peggy squeezed her hands tighter. “Do you remember, right before James was born, you got a little obsessed with this idea of Nobodies and Somebodies?”

Mandy nodded, her eyes wide. “Yeah, some stupid thing some kid said in school.”

Steve pulled the small wooden box over, the lid hiding the contents from Mandy’s view as he picked through it. “You kept saying you loved that we were Nobodies. That it was good no one knew who we were.” He found what he was looking for and closed the box, flipping the picture in his hands face down on the lid. He looked at her, hands resting over the well-worn edges of the picture. He sighed. “We have been keeping a secret from you for a long time. Your whole life, really.”

Peggy squeezed her hand, “You must understand, darling, that we never would have done this unless it was literally your life on the line.”

Steve slid the picture in his hands over in front of Mandy. On the back in her mother’s script she could read the words ‘Howling Commandos, 1944.’ “And we’ll answer any questions you have.”

“All of them.” Peggy whispered vehemently as Steve turned over the photo.

“When we told you your mother and I met during the war, that was the truth. But I wasn’t a private and she wasn’t a secretary.” Steve watched as she looked over the photo. It was the only one he and Peggy had of that time, a group shot that included all of the Commandos, Steve front and center in his red, white, and blue with the shield at his feet, Bucky next to him and Peggy on the other side. They were serious, even dour, but the photo had been taken for posterity more than anything.

“Mom?” Mandy asked, tracking the lines of her mother’s figure with her finger.

Peggy smiled. “I was spy and a codebreaker with the SSR.”

Mandy’s eyes didn’t leave the photo. “You knew Captain America?”

Steve and Peggy smiled at one another over her head. His beard had come in nicely, and his hair grew just a little darker every year. It was true: mussed and tired in an undershirt and pajama pants at the kitchen table, Steve bore little resemblance to the man in the photo.

“This is…part… of what we’ve hidden from you,” Peggy began, catching her daughter’s eyes. “We’re going to let you decide from here on out.”

Mandy was both calmer and more on edge than she had been before. “What do you mean?”

“What your mother means is,” Steve started, reaching out and taking Peggy’s hand, “That there are things we want to tell you that are hard to hear. And they’re also top secret.”

Mandy’s gaze shifted back and forth. She was confused and frustrated. “Top secret? From the war?”

“Top secret, even now.” Peggy sighed, squeezing Steve’s hand. “You can go back upstairs, right now, and just know that you’re strong and fast and you will be for your whole life. Or, you can stay, and listen, and know the truth, but you can’t share it with anyone.”

Mandy sat back in her chair, looking between them both and down at the photo. After a moment her eyes popped up, wide and accusatory at Peggy. “Did you have an affair with Captain America?”

Peggy was too stunned to respond, Steve smiled and laughed a little bit. She looked at him, eyes throwing daggers his way. “Well, she’s not wrong.”

Mandy pushed back from the table, her hands in her lap and still scandalized. “Is that why I’m strong? Because Captain America is really my dad?”

“I did not have an affair with Captain America.” Peggy reached for Mandy’s hand, but Mandy pulled it back. She looked at Steve, an icy glare to his barely hidden smile. “You’re not helping.”

Steve stood, moving around the table to reach out to Mandy. She let him take her hand. “Your mother didn’t have an affair. I am Captain America.”

Mandy shook her head. “No, he died. We learned about it in school.”

Steve stood, looking around the room. He grabbed a cast iron pan from the stove. With almost no effort, he bent the handle down flat to the pan. He handed it to Mandy. “Unbend it.”

She took the pan from him, and with less effort than she expected, moved the handle somewhat back into place. She looked from Steve to the photo, back and forth, until she finally saw the resemblance around the eyes. “You’re really… So… I’m…?”

He took the pan and unbent the handle the rest of the way before setting it back on the stove. “We can stop there,” he said, sitting. “Or we can tell you more. Whatever you’re ready for.”

Mandy looked at her hands, picking at her cuticles. “Who else knows?”

“Almost no one,” Steve said, leaning back in the chair.

“Uncle Howard,” Peggy started the small list. “Uncle Jarvis and Aunt Ana, Auntie Rose, too.” She would have added the handful of Commandos that were still left alive, but Mandy hadn’t seen them in years, and it would make no difference for her to know.

“That’s it?” Mandy asked quietly.

Peggy nodded. “When I said this was a secret, that to this day it’s imperative that it’s kept, I wasn’t lying.”

Mandy picked at her fingers, standing and pacing the room. Steve and Peggy watched her for long seconds. She turned, looking at them from the other end of the kitchen. “You said my life was on the line.”

Peggy nodded. “That’s true.”

“Am I still in danger?”

“No,” Steve replied emphatically, turning his body in his chair to look at her. “Not like you were.”

The girl bit her lip, illuminated by the sun coming through the window. People said she favored her father, but Steve always thought that was because he had a beard and they couldn’t quite see the shape of his face or the cut of his chin. Sometimes, when he looked at her, he saw Peggy. Her brown hair flowed like his wife’s, and she’d grown to copy some of Peggy’s more adorable and infuriating facial expressions. There were some moments, when he looked at her, he saw flashes back to his childhood and a profile that seemed familiar. Howard told him he was looking for patterns, his brain making connections where there were none. Steve still thought Mandy looked most like Bucky’s sister Rebecca.

Mandy moved swiftly once her decision was made. She sat at the table and clasped her hands on top of it. “I want to know everything.”

Peggy nodded, sighing. She’d been having nightmares about this for months. She knew the day would come when they had to tell her that they weren’t her biological parents, that they’d have to explain how they’d found her and how they fell in love with her. Peggy never saw it ending well. “It’s a very long story, and you might not like it.”

“But you deserve to know,” Steve finished, taking his wife’s hand. “What do you remember about Hydra from school?”

“That it was some kind of science division of the Nazis.” She replied, wary.

“That’s… very basic. They were some of the worst men of the war,” Steve continued, his face tight. “They did focus on science, but also on eugenics, and weapons, and human experimentation.” He looked down, then took his daughter’s hand. Holding on to them both, he looked Mandy in the eyes, knowing Peggy wouldn’t be able to do this and that left it up to him. “Ok, hardest part first, yes? Like a band aid.”

Mandy nodded, holding her father’s hand in both of hers. “I can take it.”

Peggy’s fear turned to admiration at her daughter’s words, but she still couldn’t help the tears that filled her eyes.

Steve took a deep breath, and let the words come out, sure and clear. “The Commandos,” he nodded to the picture still in front of her, “Your mother and I, were on a mission in a Hydra facility. We were looking for information on a cache of weapons. Instead, we found you.”

Mandy didn’t breathe for a moment, then took a deep breath. She took another, and a third as she looked back and forth at them. “So, you…” Mandy took a shaky breath. “You didn’t give birth to me. I’m… Hydra.”

“No,” Peggy pleaded, taking her hand away from Steve and reaching for Mandy’s arm. “No. You’re not Hydra. You’re our daughter and however we may have gotten you—”

Mandy pushed away from the table, untangling her hands from her parents. “I’m Hydra. You just said they were the worst part of the Nazis!” She turned, storming away from the table. Where they expected to hear the slam of the door to her room, they instead heard her grumbling, moving the slab of wood back into place over the broken frame.

Peggy reached out for Steve, tears tracking slowly down her face. “That actually went better than I expected.”

Steve pulled Peggy, chair and all, closer to him so he could wrap her in his arms. “She needs time. It’s a lot to take in.” 

He held her for a long, quiet moment before Steve heard the creak of another door then the sound of feet padding down the stairs. James, hair standing straight up and pajamas rumpled, with one fist rubbing at his eye, stopped at the kitchen door. “How’s a guy supposed to get any sleep around here with his sister breaking doors then trying to fix ‘em again?” He slumped into the room, sitting at the table.

Peggy wiped at her face, trying to hide the tears that had fallen. “Ready for breakfast, then?”

James pillowed his head on his hands, yawning. “No, it’s too early.”

Steve stood, untangling himself from Peggy. “Come on, champ,” he lifted the boy in his arms. At seven, James was tall but gangly. Peggy said he reminded her of her brother wan he was young, all limbs and no meat, but Steve was paranoid that James was growing to be a carbon copy of his previous self: small, sickly, and spindly with nothing to him. No matter how many times Howard told him the boy was just fine, healthy, and following in his sister’s footsteps as far as speed and strength went, Steve couldn’t help but worry. He hefted the boy in his arms, ignoring the whining sound he made at being picked up. “We’ll set you up on the couch, Bozo will be on before you know it.”

Steve set the boy up in front of the television, tucking the blanket from over the back of it around him. “Can I have a chocolate milk?”

“You can have a regular milk,” Peggy replied, handing the glass over the couch to Steve. She smoothed her son’s hair, knowing from the look in his eyes he was already well on his way back to sleep. “You get one chocolate milk when you have breakfast.”

Steve went over to the television, tuning it to the local station where the newscaster was droning on. He lowered the volume before walking back over to his son. “Bozo will be on soon. Your mother and I will be in the kitchen.”

Steve started to walk away when he was stopped by his son’s voice. “Hey, Dad?”

“Yeah, bud?” Steve stopped and crouched next to the couch, smiling at the way James fought falling asleep again.

He wrinkled his nose and snuggled into the pillow. “Are you really Captain America?”

Steve looked up at Peggy, eyes wide. “What makes you say that, bud?”

“Couldn’t sleep, and I heard you talking to Mandy.” His eyes were already closed, sleep not far away.

“What if I was?” Steve asked gently, unsure of what to say.

James yawned again, “That’d be so cool…” A master of sleeping anywhere and everywhere, James drifted off as he finished the sentence.

Steve stood, lips pursed as he looked at Peggy. “We’re in trouble.”

She nodded. “So much trouble.”

~*~

* * *

It was barely an hour later when the doorbell rang. Howard looked at them both over the threshold of the door, smile fading. “You didn’t know I was coming.”

Steve stepped back, opening his arm. “You’re always welcome here, Howard, you know that.”

“Yeah, but you didn’t know.” He turned in the foyer, dropping his voice. “Mandy called me.”

“Should’ve guessed,” Peggy mumbled, tilting her head towards the kitchen. “Have you eaten?”

“Yeah, have you?” Howard asked, waving at James as he passed the den, the boy wide awake and bouncing in time to the music from the TV.

Steve followed Howard back into the kitchen, sitting at the table where Peggy was still clearing away the dishes. “Just finished.”

Peggy joined them, the dishes left in the sink to soak. “What did she say?”

“Said that she needed to talk to me. That she had a lot of questions.” Howard let his voice drop lower. “You told her, didn’t you?”

Steve shrugged. “Kinda had to after she ripped her door off its hinges this morning.”

“No shit,” Howard said under his breath.

Peggy nodded, wrapping her hands around her mug of tea. “And she grew over night. At least an inch. I think it’s like you said: puberty is accelerating it.” Peggy didn’t miss Steve’s wince from the corner of her eye. “She’s growing up whether you like it or not, Steve. Boys and Proms and driving, all on their way.”

“We didn’t get far, though,” Steve relented, changing the subject back. “She just knows who we were and that we found her. Nothing else, really.”

Howard nodded, pulling away from the table. “Ok, let me see if I can do some damage control here.”

Peggy watched him go. “I don’t know if we should be proud she called him or angry.” She looked down at her tea and mumbled, “Sneaking around to use the telephone…”

Steve cleared his throat, leaning on his elbows. “She’s smart. She needs someone to corroborate our story.” Steve held out his hand, Peggy quickly threaded her fingers through his.

~*~

* * *

An hour later James was outside, riding his bike up and down the road with Peggy watching from the front window when Mandy came down the stairs, Howard trailing behind her. Mandy looked at her hands, biting her lip as Steve peeked out from the door of the den.

Peggy turned to her, but didn’t say anything. She waited, and when Mandy was ready, her voice drifted from her lips softly. “That was a really big lie.”

Peggy nodded as Steve stepped into the room, watching carefully. “One really big lie,” she affirmed.

Mandy shrugged, only daring glances at her parents. “It was for a good reason, though.”

“I’m glad you feel that way.” Peggy had to hold herself back from stepping forward. She desperately wanted to take the girl in her arms, but knew she needed to let Mandy play this out the way she needed.

Mandy’s eyes shifted quickly, gnawing on her lip. Howard stepped up behind her, whispering in her ear. “Ask them. I promise.”

Her breath caught and Peggy couldn’t help but step closer. She stopped, just out of arm’s reach, hands itching to hold her baby as Steve took his own cautious steps closer. “Anything, love. Ask it.”

Mandy couldn’t look up as she sobbed, her voice thick with fear as the words tumbled out. “Don’t you hate me? Aren’t you afraid of me?”

Peggy scooped the girl up, cradling her close. Howard shrank back as Steve joined them, holding them both in his strong embrace. “No.” Peggy was emphatic as she rocked the sobbing girl. “We love you. We love you with all our heart.”

Steve leaned back, letting his hand smooth over Mandy’s hair as he waited for her to open her tear-filled eyes and look at him from the safety of Peggy’s shoulder. “Why would we hate you? How could we be afraid of you? You’re our girl.”

“What,” she hiccuped, and started again, “What if I turn out bad? Like Hydra?”

“Never,” he kissed the crown of her head, holding them both tighter. “Never.”

~*~

* * *

Howard slipped out of the house and wandered down the driveway. She’d been thorough, that was sure. Mandy had asked him every question he could have prepared for and a few he was absolutely unprepared to answer.

Like, “Why?” God, sometimes he really hated that word. _Why._ She couldn’t stop asking _why_ she’d been experimented on. Which led him to explain Project Rebirth, and how her dad hadn’t always been what he looked like today. He should have stopped there. He damn well should have never gone off about Schmidt, which is what left the poor girl frightened and upset, but a little part of his brain told him she deserved to hear it all, and he wasn’t going to lie to her.

The worst thing any of them could do after today was lie to her again.

“How ya doing, buddy?” Howard greeted James as the boy stopped his bike at the end of the driveway.

“I’m ok,” he said, playing with the gear switch. “Did you come over to talk to Mandy?”

Howard nodded, afraid to open his mouth and make it worse.

James walked his bike closer. “Uncle Howard?” He stopped and cupped his hands waiting for Howard to lean down to him. When he did, he moved his hands right to Howard’s face, whispering and spitting in his ear as he spoke. “Is my dad really Captain America?”

Howard crouched down, trying to wipe the side of his face without making the kid feel bad about it. He nodded. “But you can’t tell anyone, James.”

James’ eyes grew wide. “Is that why I’m fast?” Howard nodded. “And strong?” He nodded again. “That’s why Mandy ripped her door off the hinges, isn’t it?”

Howard didn’t answer, just sat on the curb. He was getting older, and his knees couldn’t take the bending as much. James tipped his bike in the grass and sat next to Howard, offering him a piece of wilted gum from his pocket. Howard shook his head and ruffled the kid’s hair. “It’s getting warmer, you’ll be able to ride your bike more.”

“Mom won’t let me go far by myself,” James groused, picking the paper from the gum before he put it in his mouth. He chewed loudly for a minute before looking back up at Howard. “Uncle Howard?”

“Yeah, kid?”

He leaned over, whispering again. “Will they make my dad go back to war? They keep talking about sending people to Viet-namen.” He pursed his lips and screwed up his nose, knowing he’d pronounced it wrong. “Vehement?”

“Vietnam,” he corrected. Howard looked down at the boy, shocked. “You’re eight. Shouldn’t you be watching Bozo the clown and that flying squirrel cartoon? Why are you listening to news about wars?”

James slumped. “I hear the teachers at school talking about it. And it’s on the news sometimes before Bozo.”

Howard wrapped an arm around the kid. “You guys were easier when you were babies. Much less questions.”

“Well?” he asked, eyes wide and just slightly afraid.

“No,” Howard replied, pushing the kid away playfully and letting his hands play at the grass next to him that was just starting to recover from the winter. “No, your dad is staying here, with you. We worked really hard to make sure that could happen.”

James blew a bubble, popping it loudly. “Will I grow up to be like him?”

“You might,” Howard replied. He shrugged. “We really don’t know.”

Howard stood when he heard the door behind them open and close. Steve skipped down the front steps, tugging on his jacket. “How are you guys doing?”

To anyone else, the tone would have seemed casual, but Howard could feel the tension in the undercurrent. “Not bad,” Howard replied, standing with a groan. “Your kids ask about as many questions as you do.”

Steve couldn’t suppress a smile. “Questions are a good thing.” He pulled a baseball from his pocket. “I was thinking we could head down to the field and throw the ball around?”

Steve popped the ball into the air and James caught it, smiling. “Yeah!”

“Grab the gloves from the shed?” Steve asked the boy as he stood. James was off and running before he could finish.

Steve watched his son go, his smile fading. “He knows, too, doesn’t he?”

“Yup.” Howard put his hands in his pockets. “You and Peg know how to raise ‘em: inquisitive and pig headed.” Steve shot Howard a look, but the man didn’t wither. Instead he got more serious himself. “James asked me if they were gonna send you to Vietnam.”

Steve didn’t budge. “What did you say?”

“That we worked really hard so you’d never have to leave him.” Howard shrugged, the boy coming back toward them. “The girls kick you out? I’d thought Mandy would have more questions.”

“She does, but apparently they’re things she can’t say in front of dear old dad. Girl things.” Steve sighed, his mind following a different train of thought. “I can’t lie to them anymore.”

Howard clapped him on the back, turning with Steve to head toward the baseball field that was just a few blocks away as James picked up his bike and put the gloves and ball in the front basket. “No, you can’t.” He laughed, scuffing his shoe along the road as James flew past them. “Mostly because they’re too damn smart and will find you out at this point.”

James skidded to a stop and waited for Steve and Howard to catch up to him. He waved his hand, signaling to Steve to lean down. “Dad, when we get to the ball field, can we have a race?”

Steve leaned back, looking at the boy, confused in his excitement. “Yeah, of course.”

James, frustrated, huffed, and pulled his dad back down to whisper in his ear. “No, like, as fast as you can _really_ go.”

Steve leaned back and smiled, “As long as nobody else is there, yes.”

James let out a whoop of excitement and sped off on his bike. Howard leaned over, bumping Steve with his shoulder. “You are royally screwed.”

“Tell me about it.”

~*~

* * *

Mandy sat across the couch from Peggy, holding a pillow in her lap. She couldn’t stop fidgeting, found it hard to look her mother in the eye as she asked her questions. “But, why now?”

Peggy swallowed hard. “Well, we don’t rightly know.” She sighed, “Quite frankly Uncle Howard could explain this better.”

Mandy’s eyes grew huge. “I am not talking to Uncle Howard about going through puberty.”

“You’re right, very bad idea,” Peggy sighed, pulling her legs up under her. “Your hormones change, and we think that may be what triggered the other changes for you. It’s part of becoming a woman.”

Mandy side eyed her mother. “And could you pull a door off its hinges when you got your first period?”

“No.” Peggy looked at her girl, lips pursed tight. “We don’t know exactly how this is going to work, but Howard has always believed that you had more growing to do, and that you’d eventually be as strong as your father.” She sighed, scooting over and looking her daughter in the eye. “All girls, all women, go through this. It’s not very pleasant, and it’s not fun, and it’s confusing when it first happens. And what you’re feeling on top of that is… well, I can’t imagine.”

Mandy hugged her pillow tighter. “So, what do normal women do?”

Peggy huffed, but couldn’t quite bring herself to argue to Mandy that she was normal. She was anything but. “We suck it up. We take pain medication and stuff hot water bottles in our beds and we go about our business.” She smiled. “In your case, we’ll probably have to do some shopping, as you’ll be outgrowing your clothes. That should be fun.” Peggy’s attempt at a smile fell flat.

Mandy bit on her thumbnail, pensive. “Do you think…”

“What, sweetheart?”

Mandy shifted her eyes away. “Do you think I’ll get… muscles… like Dad?”

Peggy shrugged. “I don’t know.”

Mandy bounced her leg, looking at her mom. “What if… what if I get muscles? Girls aren’t supposed to look like that…”

Peggy sighed, gathering the girl in her embrace again. “You’re gorgeous, my darling, no matter what.” She brushed her hair back. “If anyone, anyone doesn’t like you because of what you look like, they’re not worth it, you understand me?” Mandy nodded, but Peggy remembered her own girlhood, the popularity contests and the pressure to be perfect. Being confident in your appearance was easier said than done, and though she wanted to reassure her girl, she knew she couldn’t make promises about what might or might not be in her future.

Peggy held her girl tight, the sun streaming through the front window. She didn’t talk for long moments as she felt the tension leave her little girl’s body, as she felt her pulse slow and her breathing steady. Peggy enjoyed the feel of her girl finally going boneless against her like when she was young, the soft snore as she succumbed to sleep on her shoulder after a long and stressful morning.

The peace was broken only moments later, her husband and son barging in the back door like the oafs she loved. “So, what do you actually do for work?” James asked excitedly.

Peggy turned, seeing Steve was carrying the boy on his back, James’ sneakers caked with mud that ran up his pants and managed to go all the way up into his hair. Steve turned to the sink, prying the shoes off the boy and dumping them right into the basin. “Paperwork. I do a lot of paperwork.”

James bounced on his father’s back. “Did they let you keep the shield?”

Steve shook his head as he turned, walking into the living room. “No, that’s in a museum.”

Mandy snuggled into Peggy’s side, moaning at being woken up. Peggy just wrapped her arm tightly around her, holding her to her shoulder. “What did you two get up to?” she asked quietly.

“Base—” James’ loud, excited answer was met with Peggy’s sharp look, and he dropped his voice to just above a whisper. “We played baseball.”

“And slid into a mudhole at third,” Steve supplied, still carrying James piggy-back.

“Right into the bath,” Peggy commanded, pointing her finger up the stairs.

“Awww, Mom!” James began to whine as Steve moved forward.

“You weren’t getting out of it,” Steve supplied as he stopped at the foot of the stairs “Where did you think I was taking you?”

“It’s not that bad!” James complained.

“Not that bad?” Steve laughed as he locked eyes with Peggy. “Bud, it’s in your hair!”

“You’re so gross, James,” Mandy supplied, leaning away from Peggy and burrowing into the couch, hugging her pillow tighter to her abdomen.

Peggy rolled her eyes, sighing. “He’s a rambunctious boy, Amanda. It would take me more than two hands to count the times you came home filthy from playing outside.” Peggy stood, grabbing the quilt from the back of the couch and wrapped it around Mandy before marching over to the stairs. “Well, up with you!” She followed them up the stairs. “Steve, you get him started then maybe you can go to the hardware store and fix Mandy’s door?”

Steve gently kicked the bathroom door open and swung James off his back like a monkey, depositing the boy on the tile. “If it means I don’t have to do the laundry, I’m in.” He pecked a kiss to Peggy’s lips before turning away towards Mandy’s room, only to be pulled back by Peggy’s hands in the belt loops of his jeans.

Peggy spun him in front of her, clicking her tongue at the shape of his clothes. Mud streaked his back where he’d carried the boy into the house, but he also had stains down his jeans and up the front of his shirt. “You’re as bad as your son.” She pointed her finger at James. “Strip. Shower. And I’ll be in to check you’ve got all that mud out of your hair.” At James’s nod she pulled the door mostly closed and smacked Steve on the rear putting him in motion to their own bedroom. “March, soldier.”

Inside, Peggy, shut the door. “You really are a mess.”

Steve shrugged, smiling, before pulling his shirt off over his head. “We were having fun.”

“Good.” Peggy picked his shirt from his hands with two fingers. “How is he?”

“Fine, really.” Steve toed out of his shoes, which had fared much better than James’s, and started on his pants. “Seems more excited than bothered by it.” He handed Peggy his pants, standing in only his boxers. “How’s Mandy?”

“Better, I think. Still has a lot of questions, still unsure. But better.” Peggy grabbed the laundry basket from the closet and dumped the pile in it on the bed before she put the new mud caked pieces in, looking them over. “I’m going to have to soak these.”

Steve came up behind her, wrapping his arms around her. He kissed her shoulder. “I’ll owe you one.”

Peggy dropped the laundry into the basket and turned in his arms, resting against his chest. “Think we’ve made it through the worst?”

He huffed a laugh. “James is nowhere near puberty yet. We’ve got years ahead of us.”

Peggy chuckled, wrapping her arms around his waist. “Maybe you should shave. Cat’s out of the bag, you know, and no one would suspect now…”

Steve pulled back, looking at her and moving one hand to run through his beard. “I thought you liked it?”

“Oh, I do,” Peggy murmured, lifting her hands to run through the soft hairs at his chin. “But I kind of miss your old face.”

“Same face,” Steve murmured leaning forward to capture her lips.

She pulled away from his kiss, wrinkling her nose. “Less prickly,” she replied, her eyes starting to cloud with need. She let her hands move to his shoulders. “I seem to remember you looking like a quite famous USO performer.”

Steve claimed her lips again, lifting her until she wrapped her legs around his waist. “You just liked me for my boots,” he murmured against her skin, kissing his way down her neck.

Peggy lifted his face, her lips anxious for his. “Oh, I was a much bigger fan of the tights.”

Her kisses grew hungry, hands wandering, when they were interrupted by a shout from the first floor.

“Mom!”

Peggy pulled away, still lifted in Steve’s arms, and yelled, “What sweetie?”

Mandy’s voice was pitiful, “Can you come here?”

Peggy pressed her lips together as Steve slowly lowered her to the floor. She shook her head. “Nearly fifteen years and that girl can still manage to find a way to interrupt us.”

Steve pecked her lips then turned her toward the door. “You take care of her, I’ll make sure James gets all the mud out of his hair and then head to the hardware store.”

Peggy stopped at the door, opening it to the hall to hear the shower going and looking back in to see Steve jumping into a new set of jeans. Her heart was full, if still somewhat weary and bruised at the pain they’d caused Mandy today. Things were going to change, drastically, but somehow, she knew they’d be better. No more secrets, at least from each other, and plenty of love to still go around.

“Mom, are you coming?” Mandy called from her spot on the couch.

“Yes, I’m—”

“Mom!” James stuck his head out of the bathroom door, the mud from his hair dripping down his face and onto his chest, somewhat more liquid for his attempts at cleaning it as she could hear the shower still running in the background. He held out his fist to her, “Look at this cool bug I found in my hair!”

Steve was around her and pushing James back into the bathroom before she could even say a word, his hand keeping the boy’s fist tightly closed. “On it, I’m on it,” he muttered, moving past her. “Open the window, bud,” she could hear Steve say as he closed the bathroom door, “bugs stay outside.”

“I’m coming, Mandy,” Peggy called as she shook her head, pretending not to notice the mud James had dripped on the floor.

Somebodies or nobodies, Peggy couldn’t imagine what her life would have been like if Dum Dum hadn’t handed her a crying baby all those years ago, and frankly, she didn’t want to.


End file.
